Temptation of Forever
by MadCatter90
Summary: Eloise Jennings has lived a hard life. Her parents died when she was just 3 years old and due to being born with a kidney disease she has gone through dialysis, strong medication and a transplantation despite being just 17 years of age. With her godfather's daughter Bella moving back to Forks Ellie's life will change in ways she couldn't imagine. Forever.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

 ** _Third person P.O.V._**

 _4 years ago._

Jasper Hale, previously Major Jasper Whitlock, silently walked into the Seattle Children's Hospital during the night, just before the day shift changed to night.

Normally he didn't like to visit hospitals at all, the feelings from people around him threatening to overwhelm him; the pain from the sick, the constant worry from loved ones, stress from the staff …

Of course there were others too – the feeling of victory after a successful surgery, the hope brewing after the doctors delivered good news, the joy of new parents …

But now, none of the feelings swarming the place seemed to reach him now. His own worry and fear was too big.

Finally he came by the room Alice had said she should be in and drew an unnecessary breath into his lungs. The smell of antiseptics, human hospital food and sickness – bodies in disruption filled his nostrils, nearly making him gag. Blood too, but the smells of sickness were too overwhelming for his blood lust to take over.

Quick and quiet as a viper he opened the door soundlessly and went inside the room. Two people were inside.

A girl of 12, perhaps 13 years was sleeping in the hospital bed while a man, probably her adopted father snored in the makeshift bed beside it.

For a moment he just stood and watched her – his mate. Alice had been right, as usual. He didn't dare to think she had been, but the proof was right here.

Too pale, too thin, and hooked up to machines, yes, but this was his mate. He just had to look at her to know, the feeling of sudden warmth springing up from his heart and spreading out through his entire body, despite its frozen state.

He had never felt anything like this, not when he and Alice found the Cullens, not when he met Alice, not even as a human.

Jasper had felt hope when he met Alice, he had felt hope and joy when she told him there was a mate coming for him in the future, but nothing like this.

The girl in the bed was still a child, or more accurately, in that awkward state between going from little girl to young woman. He could see she'd had her growth spurt, making her height more than that of a child, but the rest of her body hadn't seem to have caught up yet.

And with her illness making her even thinner she probably looked more like a pipe cleaner standing up.

But with her long, wavy hair, the same fiery color as the Texan sunsets he remembered and loved and the pattern of freckles dusted over her pale skin, she was still the most beautiful person he had ever seen.

She would be alright. Alice had said so. But it didn't matter, he had to be here with her during this.

All his siblings (except Alice, since she already knew) had protested when they learned of his plan, saying it was too early for her to see him, that finding out about the vampire world when she was so young and during such a trying time for her would be dangerous.

"And what if you lose control?" Edward had even had the audacity to say.

Jasper nearly growled out loud, thinking about it. He wouldn't show himself to her, he wouldn't change her now, not when she was so young and certainly not against her will – but he needed to be here for her!

Alice had told him from the start that his mate had been born with an incurable disease - Autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease, or simply ARPKD.

Carlisle had explained to him that in layman's term it was a disease that caused cysts to form on the kidneys and sometimes the liver in infants and even fetuses, deteriorating the kidneys' function.

His mate had been lucky, though. Her symptoms didn't appear until she was two years old – newborns experiencing the symptoms from the start often died.

Jasper had stayed away then, despite knowing how sad and lost the little girl must have felt when strangers examined her, gave her new pills she suddenly had to take every day, and with the pain of the symptoms forming.

He had stayed away one year later when Alice sadly had told him that her parents had died in a car crash but that his mate was unharmed, since she was at her godfather's, playing with his daughter.

Even when Alice told him last year that his mate's illness had become worse and she now had to go through dialysis three times a week to do what her kidneys no longer could, he had stayed away.

But now he couldn't stay away any longer. Alice had seen that his little mate's kidneys were on the brink of giving up, that she was near death, despite the dialysis. Luckily for her transplantation was possible; the adoptive father – her godfather was a match and was willing to donate a kidney.

She would be alright. But he would be here with her, close by just in case. Silently he stepped a bit closer to the bed, carefully reaching out with his gift.

Jasper could feel her emotions, even in her sleeping state. She was drained from the constant battle with her body, anxious about the operation that would take place tomorrow, but also hopeful.

He smiled and sent her a wave of calmness, comfort and the feeling of being safe.

His little mate's lips twitched and her mouth formed into a small smile in her sleep.

Suddenly the door to the room opened and a beam of light from the corridor fell into the room. Jasper quickly darted into the darkest corner of the room, too quick for the human eye to see.

A female nurse stuck her head in through the door, checking the two sleeping humans. But the light apparently woke the girl up and she looked around confusedly, blinking toward the light.

Jasper wanted to growl at the nurse that had gone and awoken his mate when he had just eased her worries and made her sleep better, but he didn't. She was just doing her job.

"I'm sorry if I awoke you, Ellie," the nurse whispered. "Just checking in. Do you need anything?"

The girl shook her head. "No, thank you."

"Are you nervous about tomorrow?" the nurse wondered.

Ellie licked her lips, thinking about it for a moment. "I was. When we went to bed earlier tonight I felt worried. But now … now I think I'm good. It will be alright."

The nurse smiled, nodding at her. "That's right, sweetie. The procedure will go just fine, everything will be alright."

Ellie nodded back and the nurse closed the door, making the room fall into semi-darkness again. The girl lay down again, yawning loudly before falling asleep once more.

Jasper stepped out from the dark corner, almost tip toeing on his toes to not rouse her again, even though he knew she wouldn't hear him.

He read the name on her patient ID-bracelet before walking out of the room. _Eloise H. Jennings._

Ellie was short for Eloise then. He glanced at her a last time, sending her a tendril of lethargy and calmness so she would have a good night's sleep before the procedure.

"It's not our time to meet yet, Ellie," he whispered. "But I am here for you. Always."

He closed the door and decided to wait the night out in one of the staff's locker rooms. He would not leave the hospital until the operation was done and deemed successful.

Ellie was his mate. It was not time for them to be together yet, but that didn't mean he shouldn't be there for her when he _knew._ Knew that they belonged to each other.

* * *

 ** _A/N: What's this? Another Twilight story?_**

 ** _Yes, indeed. I got the idea for my other story, Masquerade of Life, this summer while reading Volturi fanfictions._**

 ** _This story I've had in mind for nearly a year and a half though, just haven't had the time to start with it. But now it's in progress!_**

 ** _Stephanie Meyer own Twilight and it's characters, what you don't recognize is my creation._**


	2. Chapter 1

**Ellie**

I stood beside my godfather Charlie at the Port Angeles airport, waiting for his daughter Bella. Her full name was Isabella but she preferred Bella, just as I preferred Ellie to Eloise.

I think our similarities ended there, though. I still couldn't understand that Bella wanted to move here. She had made it very clear what she thought of Forks, the small town where Charlie and I lived.

I realized that it was different from Phoenix, where her mother lived, but one could think she could at least pretend to be happy while she visited her father during those few summer weeks.

But no. Three years ago Bella had given Charlie an ultimatum – either they spent their summer holiday somewhere other than Forks, or she would stay in Phoenix the whole summer.

Perhaps she had wanted to do it earlier but she knew that Charlie couldn't leave me alone in Forks back then and I couldn't go anywhere since I had to go to the hospital at least three times a week and get a dialysis.

It was only after the successful kidney transplantation which made me healthier than I had been since being a toddler that it felt safe for me to put further distance between me and the hospital. And upon hearing this Bella demanded that we took our summer holiday someplace sunny. Which ended up being California.

Forks had more rain than any other town in America, which was the truth. The weather could be depressing sometimes but I loved the fresh air, the nature, and Christmases with real snow.

But Bella had made it clear that she despised Forks just as much as her mother did – which was the reason why Renee had left Charlie all those years ago.

I remembered more of my own parents than Renee, which said something, since she was alive and they weren't.

I knew she had remarried last year – she had invited me to the wedding, but I had declined. When a woman who had been my godfather's wife couldn't even bother to visit me while I was on the brink of death I certainly wouldn't bother with coming to her wedding.

Maybe that was why Bella wanted to come and live here, come to think of it. Maybe she didn't get along with the new husband or maybe Renee wanted some time alone with him or something. Wouldn't surprise me at all.

I woke up from my thoughts when Charlie suddenly waved and said "Hey, Bells!" in a high voice.

Bella came toward us, with two duffel bags in hands. I was surprised – was that all she had brought _moving_ to a new place?

She managed to stumble at the last step and Charlie easily caught her, giving her a hug at the same time.

"Good to see you, Bells," Charlie said. "You haven't changed much. How's your mother?"

"She's good," Bella answered. "It's good to see you too, dad. Hello, Ellie."

"Hi," I said giving her a hug as well.

I might have thought Bella behaved badly towards Charlie from time to time but we had known each other since we were children so she still held a place in my heart.

"So, how are you?" Bella asked as Charlie stuffed her bags into the trunk of his police cruiser. "Everything still okay with the new kidney?"

"Yes," I nodded. Although considering I'd had the kidney now for over four years I didn't think it was exactly ' _new_ ' any longer.

"No rejections of the kidney so far. Of course I still need to take my meds two times a day and some of the side effects are tough. But it's better than the other option at least," I said.

Bella just nodded, biting her lip. She had never been much for long sentences. I guessed that was why Charlie got so awkward with her. I, on the other hand, was the kind of person that could babble for two without noticing it so he probably never felt the need to fill the silence when being with me.

"Alright then, let's go home, girls," Charlie said coming around the police cruiser.

I let Bella take the passenger seat and climbed into the back. After Charlie had drove out from the airport he turned to Bella:

"Oh, I found a good car for you, Bells! Really cheap too."

Bella frowned. "What kind of car?" she wondered.

"A truck," Charlie announced. "A Chevy."

"More like a Chevy tank," I said, giggling a little at the thought. The truck was one of those left over cars that could still withstand _anything_ , back when they made them that way. But considering Bella's nature – tripping over flat surfaces and bumping into anything that was closer than ten feet I supposed it would come in handy.

"I got in from Billy Black down at La Push," Charlie told her. "He used to go fishing with us during the summer," he verified when he saw her confused look.

"He's in a wheelchair now," Charlie continued when Bella didn't answer. "So since he won't need it anymore he offered to sell me the truck cheap."

"What year is it?" Bella wondered which made me raise my eyebrows. I didn't think she would care about that – Charlie had gotten her a car and paid for it all on his own, to make her happy and feel welcome. I thought she would be grateful.

I had my own car as well, and sure, that was a new car compared to the truck – a Volkswagen Beetle from 2001.

But that was money my parents had left me, not Charlie's hard earned wages. As a small town cop he didn't exactly make millions.

My parents had been pretty well off, both of them. And, after the car accident both of their life insurances was added to that.

They had left me all that, even though it was locked away in my trust fund until I turned 18, except for reasonable deposits, such as my driver's license and then later, a car and insurance for said car.

"I bought it as a homecoming gift for you," Charlie said, making me wake up from my thoughts. "I want you to be happy here."

"That's really nice, dad. I appreciate it," Bella said.

I scowled a little, because honestly I thought it was a pretty lame way to express a thank you, but I didn't say anything.

"Well, you're welcome," Charlie said, smiling a little.

We drove in silence for a while before I turned to Bella, trying to chat her up a little:

"So, are you nervous about school tomorrow? I feel a little bit anxious, but I hope it will be fine."

Bella shrugged at first and then she raised her eyebrows. "What, you're starting Forks High tomorrow as well? I thought you were homeschooled?"

I had been for nearly five years. After my illness got worse when I was twelve and I had to start going through the dialysis three times a week Charlie had enlisted me in a school program over distance. It had cost a fair amount of money, but a special fund for sick children had taken care of it – I didn't want to get behind in school just because I was sick.

During the first years a private teacher came to the house and helped me out the days I didn't have to be at the hospital. Then, as the years passed and broadband and wireless network became a thing I could chat with the teachers over the net, making it even easier.

After the successful transplantation the plan was that I was going to start the communal high school, but because of all the new meds it took nearly a year before I was well enough to go through school eight hours a day, five days a week and then it just felt weird to start anew when I already was working my way through high school online.

But Renee had begged Charlie to enlist both me and Bella at Forks High – so Bella would have someone to lean on, as she put it and I had agreed to it because I felt it would be unfair to Bella - that she had to start Forks High all on her own while I just could do my school from home.

I didn't want to tell Bella that now, however. Even though I didn't like Renee I didn't want to cause any bad feelings between her and Bella. Or her and Charlie for that matter.

"A little change is always good," I said instead, smiling innocently. "And since I don't have to go to the hospital three times a week any more there's nothing getting in the way."

Bella frowned a bit as if she didn't believe me, but she didn't say anything else.

While we were talking we had finally arrived at Charlie's house, the one he had bought with Renee in the early days of their marriage and remained in. Bella's new truck stood in the driveway, behind my car.

Bella smiled wildly at first when she saw the truck. "Wow, dad! I love it! Thank you," she exclaimed, true joy in her voice which made me smile and Charlie as well.

Then her smile fell a little as she saw the lime green VW Beetle in front of it. "Is that … is that your car, Ellie?"

I nodded. "Yes. I bought it when I was 16, after taking my license. With money from my trust fund."

"Oh …" she said and I couldn't exactly decipher the look she gave me.

* * *

All of us helped with carrying Bella's bags up the stairs to her old bedroom, the one facing out over the front yard.

When I moved in after my parents death Charlie had changed his den into a room for me, so my room was on the opposite side from Charlie's bedroom with the second bathroom between mine and Bella's room. It had been my bathroom up until now but now we would share it.

Not that I minded much. From what I knew Bella was the one that took care of her mother's house and I had never caught her leaving hair in the sink or any other such disgusting things when we were on holiday together.

Bella noticed the new bathroom immediately, her face expression perking up.

"Another bathroom?" she said, looking happily at Charlie.

"Yes. We had it added about three years ago when Ellie came home from the hospital. She needed some special help then with showering and … well, I thought it best that she had her own bathroom then. So you two can share it now," Charlie grinned. "Oh, and we actually have Wi-Fi now too, not just modem, so it will be easier to stay in touch with your mom. You can even do video chat – that's what Ellie's been doing with her former teachers."

Bella's expression fell again and she looked at me once more with that unreadable expression. But I thought I understood what it meant by now.

She was angry with me. Or maybe not angry, but perhaps she felt like I had stolen her father from her.

Petty one might think but I could understand why she felt like that. On the other hand, she was the one that had been living with her mother for all these years and not exactly made it a secret how much she hated it here. She didn't even want to be here during the holidays, so what point was there for Charlie to change the house just for her?

She would be living with us now of course, and I really thought that Charlie would have added an extra bathroom for us to share hadn't there already been one when she came home. And the Wi-Fi? That was for my school, not because I needed it to chat with friends or play online games every night. A necessity, in other words.

Charlie seemed to pick up a little of the tension and cleared his throat. "Well, I'll let you unpack in peace. It's great to have you here, Bells."

Bella just nodded and Charlie quietly walked away. I wondered if I should voice the tension but decided to just let it go.

If I knew Bella right she wouldn't want to seem like this had affected her – it would make her feel childish and she looked at herself as a mature person.

I settled for walking up to her and hugging her tight instead. "I'm glad you're here Bella. It feels nice that we're going into this together – being the new kids."

Bella actually smiled at that and hugged me back. "Yes, it's a small relief. Do you want to ride with me tomorrow to school or are you going to take your own car?"

I grinned wildly. "Like I would pass up a chance to ride that Chevy tank!"

We would save gas with riding together, even though I guessed my little Bug (the nickname for my car) took way less per mileage than the truck did.

This was Bella's present from Charlie, though. She should enjoy it, so I didn't say anything about that.

Bella brought me back to the present as she dragged her fingers through my long, red locks. "I wish I had your hair color. Then no one would think about me being this pale."

I laughed at that. She did have a point. Bella's skin was the same pale shade mine was, but unlike me Bella didn't have a pattern of freckles all over her, which I envied her. Instead she looked like she had been sculpted out of ivory, except when she blushed which happened quite often.

She had brown hair with a tint of red in it and chocolate brown eyes. My eyes were brown too, but I didn't have the same chocolate shade as her. My eyes were of a russet color with a clear burgundy shade in their deep.

In Bella's eyes I could now see tears gather and I quickly tried to make her think of something else: "Do you want some help unpacking?"

"No," she sniffled and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. "I think I want to be alone for a while."

"Alright. Just come get me if you need anything."

"Sure," she said. "Thank you, Ellie."

* * *

I took a walk to the cemetery after I realized that Bella wouldn't come out of her room until next day. I brought with me bouquet of lavender I bought in the store on my way there. It was my greeting for my mom.

She had loved lavender and I did so too. It was my favorite flower.

When I arrived at the small cemetery of Forks I went over to my parents' headstone and put the flowers on top of the grave top.

"Hi mom, dad." I said, sitting down on the bench that was so conveniently placed in front of their resting place.

"Bella has come home again. Hard to believe, huh? But I'm glad that she's here – it makes Charlie happy. Don't worry – he hasn't treated me bad or made a difference between us. But I know he's missed Bella. Seeing your child two weeks every year isn't the same thing as seeing them every day, you know?"

I suddenly heard something crack in the far side of the cemetery and scowled in that direction since it had interrupted my moment with my parents.

"Anyway, I hope it will work out. Bella did seem a little … I don't know, not angry exactly, but maybe she felt put aside when she saw how much Charlie had done for me during these years? I don't want her to think I'm trying to take her place or anything. I love Charlie – he's the best adoptive father anyone could ask for, so thank you guys for that! But Charlie loves her so much and she doesn't seem to notice all the time, but she did notice how much he has done for me. I hope it won't be a problem, though. Maybe she just needs a few days to settle in. Spending more time with Charlie will probably make her realize how much he loves her too."

I got silence for a few seconds before another twig cracked somewhere which made me look over in the direction to see who the disturber of the peace was.

But when I saw what it was I couldn't help but smile. It was a doe with a little fawn. It had probably been born during the summer.

The doe looked at me worriedly, trying to decipher if I was a threat or not. I sat totally still, but spoke to them in a soft, comforting voice.

"I'm not dangerous. I won't do anything to your pretty little child. You can calm down, beautiful."

The doe tilted her head and looked me over, more curious now. The fawn also seemed curious of what I was and even took a few steps toward me.

It made me happy – I had always had a good hand with animals. They seemed drawn to me, even animals that normally didn't interfered with humans.

I had even tossed a chicken leg to a coyote once when I was just three years old and me and my parents were on a picnic in the woods. Charlie had told me that I had apparently walked away a little bit with the grilled chicken leg in my hand when the coyote showed up from a shrubbery.

I didn't remember the incident myself, but apparently I had just happily exclaimed "doggy!" and threw the bone for it.

My dad had come running, convinced it would rip me to shreds but the coyote had just yapped at me and taken off with the chicken bone.

I sadly didn't have anything for the doe and fawn to eat but I calmly spoke to them a little while more. Then something from behind apparently spook them and they took off.

I couldn't see anything strange but their senses was way better than mine. Perhaps a predator was in the forest nearby. I wasn't scared though since they typically didn't go for humans unless threatened.

But even so it had started to turn dark and I rose from the bench and quickly stroke the upside of my parent's headstone.

"Bye mom, dad. I don't know when I'll come again, but I'll always be back. You know that too."

I smiled a little as I bent over and inhaled the smell from the lavender before I started to walk away.

A weird feeling started to creep upon me as I went through the cemetery gates though. Like someone was watching me, or even following me.

It felt strange, especially since I couldn't see anyone. But I didn't feel frightened for some reason. It just felt like someone was watching over me out of kindness.

Maybe it was the spirits of my late parents? I'd had something like this happen another time – the night before my kidney transplantation.

I'd just woken up the day of the surgery, feeling like someone had been there with me during the night. Same when I woke up after the surgery and the clouds of anesthesia lifted from my brain.

When I told Charlie about it he had suggested that it was my parents being there for me. It made sense in way so I believed that as well. Why they would come check upon me now though, I didn't understand.

The feeling felt very comforting nevertheless. So I just went with it without investigating it.

* * *

 ** _A/N: Thank you everyone that has already followed and made it a favorite!_**

 ** _That means so much to me - you guys rock!_**


	3. Chapter 2

**Ellie**

Bella came down later than me next morning which didn't surprise me at all – she looked like she hadn't slept more than two hours.

She was silently eating her cereal while Charlie chit-chatted with me, casting some awkward glances at her from time to time, clearly wanting her to join but without luck.

After Charlie had made sure I took the morning dosage of my medicine he got up from his chair, wishing us good luck at school before he took off to the station.

As I started to clean away the plates from breakfast Bella went around the rooms downstairs, checking out the differences perhaps. There had been some changes since she was here last after all.

When I had finished cleaning up I went looking for her and found her in the small family room adjoining the kitchen. She was staring at the photos lining the walls and the fireplace mantle.

Most were photos of Bella, school pictures from every year, but there was also a picture from when she was newborn with both Charlie and Renee, taken at the hospital.

There were also pictures of me and Charlie – I especially liked the one a nurse had taken a few days after the successful transplant.

I looked more dead than alive, but happy and hopeful, and Charlie seemed a bit drained in the picture, but his face was beaming with joy when smiling toward the camera.

Beside that picture, where his and Renee's wedding photo from Las Vegas had previously been there now was a framed diploma from the Seattle Children's hospital, thanking him for donating a kidney. Bella stared at it, which made me feel a bit ill at ease.

Charlie had taken down the wedding picture before he got the diploma, even though it happened around the same timeframe.

When it was stated that I would need a new kidney to be able to survive the hospital had been a bit desperate since blood relatives – like parents or siblings were the usual donors, especially when it comes to children. In my case there were none.

They had tested Charlie, more out of duty than hope and gotten astonished when realizing that he was a match – that this could solve their problems and mine.

Charlie had hesitated at first. Not because he didn't want to give me a kidney, but because he felt a duty towards Bella. What if Bella one day needed a kidney, and he had already given one away?

That was when he had called Renee and had a long, serious talk with her for the first time in years. And to Renee's credit, I must say that she had a very good reasoning with why he should go through with it even though I wasn't his real daughter while Bella was.

She had said that the chance of Bella needing a new kidney sometime in the future was slim and _if_ she would actually need one, there were always the other parent to chose from – her, Renee.

"You have a chance to save Ellie's life here, Charlie," Renee had finished. "Do it. Otherwise I doubt you will ever forgive yourself. And neither would Bella."

Bella had agreed to that, saying that she didn't want me to die because she might need one of Charlie's kidneys in the future.

Unfortunately, it was in the same phone call that Renee managed to anger Charlie even though she probably didn't mean to.

Charlie had asked her to come to Forks and Seattle to visit us during the procedure of the transplantation.

He wanted another adult that I knew to be there, since he would also be drugged because of the surgery and then later the pain.

Renee had not understood that though. She just said that she would call me to let me know I was in her prayers, but the mere thought of spending another day in Forks rain made her feel like hanging herself.

 _That_ was why Charlie had taken down their wedding photo. He had never got over what happened between him and Renee, at least not to the degree that he could try dating another woman. But he didn't want her back either, with how she behaved.

I knew all this, but I didn't think Bella knew and I didn't think trying to explain it would make it any better. I just hoped that she wouldn't resent her father for finally getting out of the grip her mother had on him.

Or that she would resent me, because I was the one that technically made it happen.

"Do you want to go?" I asked, making her jump as she stared at the photos. "I thought we might as well get away early – driving a new car can always be a challenge!"

I smiled carefully at her, hoping that my light tone would make the tension go away. When she smiled back I sighed with relief on the inside – at least we wouldn't travel to school during awkward silence.

When we had climbed into the truck and Bella started the engine I nearly regretted my decision to travel with her.

The engine roared worse than a mountain lion in heat – riding to school on an old Harley would have been more peaceful. But I sucked it up since I didn't want to ruin her mood again.

She was happily surprised that the radio worked and so was I since that took away some of the noise from the engine after I had turned the volume up a bit.

Bella was a good driver but she clearly didn't like to drive fast (which made this truck even more suited for her!) so I was glad that we had headed out early.

The school was located just off the highway, surrounded by trees and shrubbery, which I thought gave it a bit more homey feeling, instead of the ordinary fences and basketball fields.

Bella parked in front of the first building where there was a small sign saying _Front office_ over the doors.

"I don't think you're allowed to park here, Bells," I told her and she nodded.

"I know. But let's just get the information and we can park it somewhere else later."

I nodded and got out, walking briskly up to the door while waiting for Bella. She came up beside me and took a deep breath as if she was facing her own execution before she opened the door and we went inside.

It was brightly lit and warm inside, which didn't fit with the mental images I had of community schools – flickering lights and cold as the Arctic winters since the heating system didn't get checked regularly.

To see that I was wrong about the school which would now be mine made me pleasantly surprised and caused me to smile widely toward the woman who sat by one of the desk in the office area.

She recognized me immediately. Even though I hadn't been attending this school I was still a citizen of Forks, after all and Forks was a small town. You couldn't get away from being known by some people at least.

"Oh, Ellie, hi!" she exclaimed, smiling toward me. "How are you?"

"I'm fine Mrs. Cope," I said and gently dragged Bella up a few steps so she was beside me. "This is Isabella Swan. We're both starting our first day today."

A knowing glint lit up in Mrs. Cope's eyes and I silently prayed that she wouldn't start asking Bella questions about how she liked Forks so far since that might actually cause Bella to cry.

The secretary seemed to realize that Bella wasn't up to small talk, thankfully, so instead she got us our schedules, a map of the school for both of us and two slips for all of our teachers to sign before we brought it back at the end of the day.

Even though both Bella and I were in junior year we would not be in the same class. The only subject we had together was gym, something both of us hated.

Me because I disliked the way every boy seemed to become a Neanderthal, who's only purpose was to catch the ball, no matter what or who stood in the way. As for Bella … she just didn't have an athletic bone in her body and gym class was like a torture to her.

Mrs. Cope was one of those kind souls on this planet, so she even pointed out every classroom for all of our lessons on the map for us and explained the best routes to get there. I just hoped I wouldn't confuse Bella's directions with my own.

"Thank you so much, Mrs. Cope!" I told her when she had finished.

"It's no trouble, dear. Have a good day, both of you!"

"You too," Bella said kindly before we went outside again to the truck.

Bella seemed surprised when we had parked in the original parking spot and she saw that most of the cars the students drove were older cars, so no one even blinked twice about the truck. The only car that seemed to stand out a little was a silver Volvo, clearly a newer model.

I made a mental note to start riding with Bella to school during the days. I loved my little Bug, but I didn't want to get a reputation about being the stuck up girl who thought she was something.

Perhaps I was being judgmental, but I actually read and watched TV-shows. I knew how teenagers could be and since everyone else would have known each other from the beginning I wasn't going to take any chances.

I suddenly realized that I had to get going if I didn't want to be late. Bella was going to building 3, while I was going to building 5. I had a bit more distance than she had.

I quickly said goodbye to her and wished her good luck. She wished med the same as I slammed the truck's door loudly and started sprinting toward the right building.

I looked at the map while running and cursed loudly. I was not only in building 5, but my classroom was located at the very end of the building.

Or was that the right classroom? Damn, stress always made it hard for me to think!

I ripped open the door and got inside, my boots making squeaky noises on the stone floor of the corridor as I hurried along.

I rounded a corner and suddenly I smacked straight into something very cold and hard, making me lose my balance.

With a " _O_ _mph!_ " I landed hard on the floor, suddenly all disoriented.

 _Had I read the map wrong and ran into a wall or a door?_

"Oh no, darling – are you alright?" A voice with a lovely southern drawl suddenly said above me, making me raise my eyes.

In front of me, looking concerned and slightly worried was a Greek god. Blonde curly hair, pale flawless skin and dark eyes. He looked strong and fit but not bulky. The only flaw I could find in his looks was that he looked slightly exhausted – dark shadows surrounded his eyes.

 _And that was the only flaw!_

"Here, let me help you," he said, offering me his hand.

Since the muscles in my tongue appeared to have bailed out on me I just took his offered hand in silence as he gently dragged me to my feet.

Despite the fact that his hand was very cold (maybe he had just been outside too?) it felt like a wave of warmth flowed into my skin as he touched me – seeped through it and spread through my veins, along with my blood – all the way to my heart which then skipped two beats.

I gasped for breath at the sensation and he seemed to notice too, because I felt his hand twitch against mine, yet he didn't let go.

When our eyes met, mine wide and confused he smiled, making his dark ones seem brighter.

"There you go," he said. "You alright?"

My mind finally caught up and I nodded. "Yes. I'm sorry for running into you like that. I hope I didn't hurt you?"

His smile got wider, as if I had just said something funny even though I couldn't understand what that was but he shook his head, making me forget about it.

"No, I'm fine. I think you were the one that got the worst of it. I'm Jasper Hale, by the way."

"Ellie Jennings," I answered as I offered my hand this time, for shaking. "I'm new to the school and I didn't want to be late. That's why I was running like that, not watching where I was going."

Jasper nodded. "Ah, yes, there was some talk about two new girls starting today. Would you like me to escort you to your classroom, show you were it is?"

I raised my eyebrows before nodding eagerly. "Really? Yes, thank you so much, Jasper! I'm having Trig with Mr. Varner."

Jasper seemed to like me saying his name, as his smile got wider. "No trouble at all, ma'am. This way."

He even offered me his arm which I took with a little giggle and walked me down the corridor.

When we came up to the classroom he leaned closer to me and whispered:

"Mr. Varner can be a bit … grumpy at times. I'll follow you inside and explain that it's because of me you're late, so he won't give you a hard time."

I started shaking my head, but I didn't have time to talk him out of it before he knocked on the door before opening it and walking inside.

I swallowed and followed Jasper inside, trying not to notice everyone staring. Jasper seemed to explain something to the teacher who then nodded and said: "Very well. Go on to your lesson now then, Mr. Hale."

Jasper nodded back and went past me, quickly winking before he shut the door to the classroom.

"Miss. Jennings," the teacher said, making me remember where I was. I gave him the slip to sign before he waved me off to an empty desk.

Grumpy or not, Mr. Varner hadn't made me stand in front of the class while he told them that since I was the new kid they had to make an effort to be friendly towards me which I had dreaded and that earned him a star in my book.

With a sigh I sat down at the desk and opened the books. If I focused on that I could hopefully forget about people staring.

* * *

 **Jasper**

By lunch I sat with my family at our regular table, casting eager glances toward the entrance of the cafeteria to see when my mate would show up.

She did soon too, while chatting with another girl, whose name I thought was Angela Weber. She seemed in a much brighter mood now than earlier today.

After they got their food Angela steered her toward a table in the middle of the cafeteria with some other students, among them the other new girl, Isabella Swan, which I now knew was also her adopted sister.

The boys around the table greeted her happily, all of them displaying feelings of attraction and eagerness to know her, just as they had with Isabella. It was just a few of them that recognized her, from her younger years before she had become so sick I guessed. But mostly, they seemed to favor Isabella, perhaps because she was a completely new face.

"It is," Edward answered my thoughts. "A few of them went to kindergarten with her or middle school. I guess that's why Isabella is more interesting to them. A total new face."

"Edward, don't read her thoughts," I said. "I want this to be as normal as possible, at least until she knows."

"Alright, but to be fair, I didn't hear it from her – I heard it from that Newton boy's thoughts," Edward defended himself.

"So that's your mate?" Rosalie interrupted our discussion, making me turn towards her, seeing her taking my mate in.

I nodded – almost ready to tell her off if an insult would come out. Rosalie wasn't much for outsiders out of the family but to my astonishment I could only detect curiosity and a kindness in her feelings as she watched Ellie.

She knew of her history of course, since that night I had gone to the children's hospital but I didn't think she would make much of an effort anyway.

Each one of us knew what Rosalie thought of this life and how she would trade everything to become human again. It satisfied me that she wanted to keep an open mind and I sent her my gratitude through my gift, making her smile.

"She's cute," Emmett remarked. "You got lucky, Jazz."

I shook my head. "It wouldn't have mattered."

Alice rose from her chair to toss away her uneaten food and that made Ellie notice our table. Her face brightened as she saw me. I smiled at her and waved, which she eagerly returned.

"Who are they?" Isabella asked as she had now noticed us as well. She stared at Ellie with raised eyebrows. It was another girl that answered, however, Jessica Stanley.

She had harbored a crush on Edward for a very long time but now it seemed like she had moved on to someone else. It didn't stop her from giggling in a very theatrical way though.

"Oh, that's Edward and Emmett Cullen and Rosalie and Jasper Hale," she answered in a fake whisper. "The one that left is Alice Cullen – they all live with Dr. Cullen and his wife. But perhaps Ellie already knew that?" I could see her waggling her eyebrows toward my mate and leaning forward. "So, what was all that waving with Jasper about?"

Ellie just shook her head, I could feel a bit of annoyance coming from her. "It's nothing, I accidentally ran into him this morning when I was trying to find my first class. And I mean _literary_ ran into! I landed on my ass! God, it was embarrassing!"

Emmett chuckled a little and Rosalie smiled too. The other students laughed as well while Isabella patted Ellie's arm.

"Anyway, then he just offered to follow me to the classroom, making sure I found it. No big deal."

"It must be if Jasper Hale follows you to class, especially after you smacked right into him!" Jessica said, her eyes big and radiating curiosity. "The Cullens don't hang out with anyone but themselves. Emmett and Rosalie are even a couple - while living together!" she said the last part in a hushed whisper, making my siblings roll their eyes. _This again._

"Are they related?" Ellie asked. "I thought you said they had different surnames."

"Oh no. Dr Cullen is really young – like late twenties or early thirties. They're all adopted. Rosalie and Jasper – the Hale's, are siblings though, they're twins. They're foster children. Mrs. Cullen is like their aunt or something – they've been with them since they were eight."

"Then there's no big deal with Rosalie and Emmett being a couple, right? If they aren't actually related," Ellie said, taking a sip from her soda. I smiled. My mate had some sassiness in her, I liked that.

"I … I guess not," Jessica said. Her tone gave away nothing but I could feel she was a bit affronted by my mate telling her off like that.

"It's very nice of Dr. and Mrs. Cullen to take care of all those kids, being so young and everything," Isabella said.

"I guess," Jessica admitted even though it didn't sound genuine. "I think that Mrs. Cullen can't have any kids of her own, though."

Suddenly I felt a wave of rage wash over me from Ellie, at the same time as she choked on her drink, coughing violently.

"You okay?" Isabella asked worriedly after she had finally stopped patting her back.

"Yeah," Ellie admitted. Her cheeks were pink under the freckles – she was really furious about something. "I need some air!"

Then she got up from the table, walking over to the canteen and tossed away her food before nearly running out of the cafeteria.

I got up immediately. _What had made her so angry?_

"She thought Jessica went over the line," Edward said, making my gaze flicker over to him. "That saying things like that is not gossiping, it's being cruel."

I silently raised an eyebrow at him and he shrugged. "I can't always control it, Jasper. And her thoughts were _very_ loud."

Rosalie and Emmett didn't say anything but I could feel both of them expressing appreciativeness toward my mate. None of us liked when someone spoke bad about our adoptive mother.

I didn't say anything else but left the cafeteria and went after Ellie. I followed her scent among the other students and managed to find her in the school yard, despite the rain.

"Hey," I said walking up to her. "You okay?"

Ellie nodded. "I just got angry. Jessica … she said something very rude about … about your family. Something I think is none of her business or any of ours really. But I didn't want to start an argument on my first day so I went outside instead."

I nodded. "You don't have to fight our battles darling. We are used to them talking about us."

"Yeah, and there is no way to stop that in any high school, really. But I just think that there are certain things you don't gossip about. It's one thing to say 'that is really not her color' and saying … what Jessica said."

She apparently didn't even want to tell me what Jessica had said and I couldn't exactly say I already knew so I just took her hand and said:

"Come on, darling. Let's go inside, you're getting soaked. What are you having next?"

"English," she answered.

"Want me to follow you to your locker?"

"I'd like that," she said and finally a small smile broke through.

As we went to her locker she asked me about my family despite the fact that Jessica had told her some. But she seemed genuinely curious – she wondered what kind of doctor Carlisle was, where we had lived before Forks and if Esme worked with anything special. I didn't even have to lie to her once, I could answer truthfully to all her questions.

We were at her locker before I could start asking questions myself, so I quickly took the opportunity of asking her if I could meet her after English and finish our conversation.

She nodded happily before taking off. She turned her head once to look back at me, though and it made me feel all warm inside in a way I hadn't felt since the first time I saw her four years ago.

Spanish was dull as usual and Emmett was teasing me about how I checked the clock over and over again. Finally the bell rang and I made my way to her classroom.

"Hi, Jasper!" she said as she came out, smiling widely toward me. All the students that were coming out after her was staring at us but it didn't seem she noticed.

Her feelings were radiating warmth, happiness and attraction toward me.

"Hello, darling. You ready to go?"

"Yes. I'm just going to put these back in my locker, then I must turn in my slip."

Even though I already knew I still asked: "So, you and Isabella know each other?"

"Oh, yeah. Her father, Charlie is my adoptive father. He became my guardian when my parents passed away and then he adopted me a couple of years later."

"I'm sorry about your parents, love," I said, taking her hand and squeezing gently.

"Thank you. I don't remember much of them, I was only three when they died. I love Charlie, though. He's the best adoptive father anyone could ask for."

I could tell she meant it by the warmth in her voice and affection she felt while talking about him, which made me happy. She deserved that.

"And Isabella is his daughter?"

"She prefers Bella. Yes, she is. Bella has lived with her mom until now. She … she doesn't like Forks very much but she decided to move here recently when her mother remarried. I'm not really sure about the details. Charlie is happy she is here though, so I hope …" she interrupted herself

"Hope what?" I wondered.

"I hope that she can find _some_ happiness so he won't feel guilty for being happy with having her here," she finished making me even more surprised.

"What about you?" I wondered.

"What about me, what?" she asked as we came up to her locker.

"Are _you_ happy here?"

She smiled and dragged a hand through her red hair. I could catch a whiff of her scent as she did that. It was odd, her scent. She didn't smell exactly human. Not bad, per see, just … off.

It could have something to do with her illness and the medicines she had to take - tainting her blood though. Maybe it was because she was my mate or maybe it was because of her scent not being exactly right, but her blood didn't tempt me at all. I didn't feel the normal burning from my throat while being so close to a human.

 _That was a good sign._

"Forks is my home," she told me, answering my question. "It has its charms as well as its flaws. I can't complain though. I've gotten more than most people can ask for."

She bit her lip as if she was contemplating something before she took a deep breath and said:

"You see, I was born with a kidney disease. That's why I haven't attended high school even though I was born here. I was nearly dying a few years ago because both my kidneys had stopped functioning. But Charlie, my adopted father donated a kidney for me. I got a new chance at life – and I will always be grateful for that. Knowing that I might get a rejection any day has made me value life more, life of any kind really, even though I must take medicines every day for the rest of my life. It's more than I should've had and I'm grateful for it."

I was silent a few seconds after she had finished, then I took her hand in mine again, placing the other on top of it.

"I'm glad you got a second chance, Ellie," I whispered. "You have no idea how glad I am."

That seemed to make her a bit teary-eyed. Hand in hand we walked through the building, down to the office where she had to turn her slip in.

I politely opened the door for her, making her blush a bit. Unfortunately the peace stopped there.

Isabella – _Bella_ , stood just a few steps from the door, frozen like while my brother, Edward, stood by the office desk, glaring at her like he would attack her.

Then he suddenly darted out of the office. He would have pushed Ellie if she hadn't quickly stepped aside and my rage rose inside me, until I felt _his_ emotions.

Thirst. Blood lust and a lot of it.

 _Shit._

Edward needed me right now. I didn't want to leave Ellie, but if I didn't we might have an even bigger catastrophe to deal with.

"I have to go, Ellie," I quickly said. "Family problems. But I'll see you tomorrow?"

Ellie looked after my brother, her mouth open in confusion. "Yeah, absolutely. Go, he seems a bit … agitated."

 _You have no idea,_ I thought as I hurried after Edward as fast as I dared with humans around.

I found him in the parking lot, leaning against our car, gulping down air even though he didn't need it.

"What's going on?" I demanded.

He turned to me, eyes even darker than they had been at lunch. I sent him some calming emotion which made his aggression fade a bit before he finally spoke. Just one word, but it was enough.

"Singer."

 _Oh, hell no!_

* * *

 ** _A/N: Please leave a review and tell me what you think! It makes my day!_**


	4. Chapter 3

**Ellie**

When the door closed after the two brothers I turned my gaze over to Bella, my brows raised. She looked like she was on the brink of tears, so I quickly went up to her, hooking her arm with mine to offer some comfort before we turned to the front desk.

Mrs. Cope looked a bit ruffled which made me wonder if Edward had been rude towards her as well, whatever they had been discussing. She smiled toward us both, however.

"How was your first day, dears?"

"Fine, fine," I said, smiling toward her. She didn't seem to believe me as she looked at Bella who was biting her bottom lip, looking down at her shoes.

We gave her our slips and then I dragged Bella out of there so I could start question her.

"Okay, Bella, spill! What's going on? That guy, Edward … did you jump him in class or something, trying to undress him?" I smiled, hoping a little humor would cheer her up a bit.

Clearly the wrong method. Bella looked like she wanted to strangle me on the spot.

It would have been frightening if it wasn't for the fact that Bella had the strength of a kitten and I easily could outrun her in jogging pace since she seemed to always find something to stumble over when she ran. Or walked, for that matter.

"I did not do anything!" she hissed at me. "He … he hates me!"

I raised my eyebrows. "Hates you? How can he do that, he just met you!"

"Exactly!" she said, wiping beneath her eyes. "I don't understand why, but he does. In biology class he was glaring at me the whole time, sitting as far away from me as possible. And you know what else? He … he covered his nose, as if I smelled bad! Do I?"

She added the last part with a trembling voice, lower lip quivering.

I was stunned by what she told me. Why would Edward do that her? Was Jasper's brother delusional?

I leaned closer to her as we climbed into the truck and inhaled. "No, you don't smell bad. You smell like strawberries."

"It's my shampoo," Bella said, starting the engine.

We sat in silence the whole trip home, but when we had arrived at Charlie's house a theory had popped up into my head.

It was actually from something I had once seen on _Forensic Files_ back when I was at the hospital. Since TV and books were pretty much my only entertainment back then I had probably seen more documentaries than many others my age.

"Listen, Bella," I said as she turned off the engine. "Maybe what happened today hadn't anything to do with you."

"That's impossible!" Bella angrily said. "You saw how he …"

"Please, let me finish," I interrupted her, putting my hand over hers.

She sighed and nodded, biting her lip again. A sure sign that she was worried.

"You're right, he was looking really angry. But didn't he also look like he was in pain?"

Bella looked surprised for a moment, and then she nodded. "Yes. But mostly angry."

"And he covered his nose when you came close to him, right?" She nodded again.

"Well, perhaps it doesn't have anything to do with _you_ personally. Maybe you were just a victim under the circumstances. Perhaps he recently got dumped by a girl that uses the same shampoo as you? Or maybe he just really hate strawberries? I'm not saying it makes his behavior okay. My point is, we don't know what's up with him. Don't assume he hates you before you have the whole story, alright?"

Bella listened attentively to me, her brows furrowed. When I had finished talking her face was brighter and she seemed a bit better.

Unfortunately her brain also seemed to have caught up now when she wasn't so distraught.

"Hey, what was up with you and the blonde brother … Jasper, right? I saw him follow you out of the cafeteria and he held the door open for you when you came to the front office."

I blushed a bit. "Nothing. It's just as I said at lunch – I ran into him this morning and … I don't know we just … connected."

Bella's eyes widened as we unlocked the front door and came into the hallway. "Wait … do you … do you like him?" Surprise was coating her tone and that made me a bit angry.

"Of course I do!" I said, playing it off. "Even though he's a senior he was probably the one being nicest to me in the whole day."

"That's not what I meant," Bella said, smirking a little. "And I think you know that, Ellie."

I rolled my eyes. "This is not Shakespeare, Bella, it's real life. You don't just fall in love with someone the same day as meeting them."

That was the truth. Right?

* * *

A few hours later I was in my room, thinking about Jasper while I was supposed to do my homework. I hoped he was okay and that whatever had happened with Edward wasn't something bad that affected him too.

I felt bad for Bella with how Edward had treated her and wondered why, but after getting sick myself I knew you could sometimes act badly toward others without realizing it.

What if Edward had gotten sick? What if something bad had happened? I suddenly remembered that Jasper had seemed worried about his brother when we saw him at the front desk. Worried, not surprised. What if Edward already was sick, but no one but his family knew yet, and it had gotten worse – and _that_ was what made him so weird toward Bella today.

I knew that certain medicines or conditions could turn smells you otherwise enjoyed into something nauseating. Migraines, for example.

Perhaps that was why he covered his nose when Bella came close.

I nearly got up from my seat to find the local phone book of Forks. The Cullen's number should be in there. I wasn't going to snoop about what was up with Edward – I just wanted to show my support.

But I stopped myself in the last minute. I had only known Jasper for less than a day and I didn't know Edward at all! Finding their home number would make me seem like a stalker!

It was too humiliating. I had to wait until tomorrow then I could ask Jasper what was up with Edward and let him know that I worried about him and Jasper too. About them all, really.

Yet tomorrow seemed so far away …

* * *

That night I dreamed that I was running around in a dark forest, looking for Jasper. My worry had increased and I longed to see him just to know that he was okay.

But instead of Jasper, it was Edward that I found and he was glaring all menacingly at me, making me shiver in fear …


	5. Chapter 4

**Ellie**

Next morning it was I who came down late. I felt emotionally exhausted, like I hadn't slept at all. I blamed it on my dream and the dream I blamed on Bella.

All that talk about Edward glaring at her as if she was his archenemy had made my imagination go into overdrive.

Neither I nor Bella said much during breakfast, which made Charlie glance strangely at me but he didn't say anything.

Bella on the other hand hardly noticed my silence. She seemed to be miles away in thoughts – just playing with her cereal instead of eating it and continuously staring out the window without seeing.

We rode to school in silence, the radio the only thing to drown out the noise of the truck that morning.

Nearly everyone had already arrived when we turned into the parking lot, including the Cullens. All of them except Edward.

Bella seriously dropped her jaw when she saw that he wasn't among his siblings, before she angrily scoffed and got out from the driver's side.

I guessed she took this as another sign that he hated her, but that was just ridiculous to me.

Would he skip school just to get away from Bella? He didn't even know her and the smell of her shampoo couldn't be that bad!

No, I was certain that something else was going on here. What if I had been right and he was actually sick?

I swallowed nervously as I got out from the truck and turned to Bella to tell her my new theory but Mike Newton got to her before I did – throwing his arm around her shoulders and dragging her away towards the school building, without even acknowledging me.

Some people might have taken that as a serious offense, but I didn't. I supposed Mike was still embarrassed about that time in grade school when he had tried to scare me with a snake and it ended up with me kicking him straight in his shin because he was holding the snake too tight, clearly hurting it.

I smiled at the memory and my smile got even wider when I saw Jasper waving at me from his spot at the parking lot – motioning for me to come.

I felt a bit nervous as I walked over to him and his siblings – nervous about meeting his siblings and also trying to gather the nerve to ask about Edward.

I didn't really care that much about Edward – I didn't know they guy. But if one of Jasper's sibling had some kind of problem I wanted to offer my support and be there for Jasper – that's what friends did, right?

 _On the other hand, were I and Jasper even friends?_

"Hi, Ellie," Jasper said as I finally got close to them, his smooth southern drawl making it sound like a caress.

"How are you? I wanted you to meet my siblings. This is Emmett and Rosalie and this is Alice," he pointed them all out with his hand and I smiled toward them.

"Hello, I'm Ellie," I said.

Alice nodded toward me while Rosalie and Emmett smiled. Emmett even offered his hand, which made Jasper seem worried, for some reason.

"Nice to meet you, Ellie," Emmett boomed as we shook hands. I had my mittens on but I could still feel the chill from his skin through the knitted fabric. I could also feel how strong he was, which didn't surprise me. He was built like a bear!

"Likewise," I said.

At that same moment the school bell rang and Alice started to walk toward the building. Rosalie gave me another smile as she took Emmett's hand.

"Duty calls," she said, sounding more like she sang it out than said it, her voice like bell chimes. "It was nice meeting you Ellie. We'll see you later, I'm sure."

"Bye!" I said, waving at them both.

"Bye, Freckles," Emmett called, which made me laugh.

"Freckles?" I yelled questioningly at him.

"What? You have them, don't you?" he called back.

Good point. I just shook my head in amusement at him. Better he gave me a nickname than disliked me, I decided.

I turned toward Jasper that smiled carefully at me. "He doesn't mean anything bad with it," he assured me.

"Yeah, I get that. It's okay. Maybe I'll even grow to like it?" I smiled and winked at him.

"So," I continued, stopping right away since I didn't know how to continue.

"So," Jasper echoed, clearly amused. "How are you? You didn't answer earlier."

"Oh. I'm alright. How about you? Aren't you a sibling short?"

"What? Oh, you mean Edward? Yes, he had to go, yesterday. Family business in Alaska on a rather short notice," Jasper said, shrugging a little.

"I see. Do you know when he'll be back?"

What he said could be true, of course. But I wanted to make sure that it wasn't just an excuse because he didn't want to tell me.

"He didn't say," Jasper said, looking me in the eyes, frowning a bit.

I noticed something different. Yesterday his eyes had been nearly black but now they seemed lighter – like gold or amber.

But for some reason now his irises seemed to darken again.

"Why this sudden interest in my brother?" he asked, sounding almost angry. "Are you … do you like him or something?"

I felt my face heat up, but not for the reasons one might think. Me liking Edward? Hell no!

"No!" I exclaimed, probably sounding horrified. "I just … well, Bella told me he was … behaving a bit strange towards her in class yesterday and you saw yourself how he was at the office … I thought he might be sick or had gotten some bad news but that you wouldn't want to tell me. Because if that's the case, I promise you _can_ tell me!"

Jasper raised his eyebrows, his eyes looking golden again before he started laughing. I huffed, feeling a bit angry.

"What's so funny?" I demanded to know.

"I'm sorry, Ellie, I shouldn't have laughed at you. Thank you for your concern – it means a lot to me. But no, Edward is not sick. He was out of line yesterday, I agree about that, and I'm sorry. He's dealing with some … things right now that makes him have a bit shorter fuse than usual. That's one of the reasons why he went away, but I can guarantee you that you don't have to worry about him."

I blushed again. "I'm sorry. I guess I'm a bit paranoid after my own sickness – always thinking the worst. But I was mostly worried about you … well and your family as well. How that would affect you when you moved here pretty recently yourself and …" I cut myself off, realizing I was rambling.

Jasper didn't seem to mind though; he was still smiling, showing off his perfect teeth. He took one of my hands in his and played with my fingers, suddenly seeming shy.

"I'm glad you care about me, Ellie. Because … I was wondering … would you do me the honor of going out with me this weekend? Saturday, maybe? I … I know this is pretty fast forward but …"

"I would love too!" I interrupted, making him look up at me again.

"Really?"

"Yes, really!" I smiled. "I agree, it is a bit fast but … I can't explain it, but it feels like you and I … that there's just something that's right about it – do you understand what I mean?"

Jasper smiled his full smile again, I and got a feeling I had missed some kind of inside joke, but soon forgot all about it as he pressed a kiss to my hand, on top of my mitten.

"Trust me Ellie, I understand completely."

The rest of the day I was on cloud nine. Which was obviously clear, as Mr. Varner asked me to get my head down from the clouds and put it to use during Trig, but not even that could darken my mood.

When Bella and I rode home in the truck that afternoon I sang along to the radio, drumming my fingertips on my thigh. This seemed to annoy Bella but she didn't say anything about it until we were home.

"Someone's clearly in a better mood now," she commented as she turned down the engine.

I nodded, even though I guessed she understood why. Jasper had asked me to sit with him during lunch earlier that day as well, so everyone practically knew that something was going on between us.

The lunch had made me even more thrilled about going on a date with him, however. We had taken a table all for ourselves and it had ended in us talking nonstop so we both forgot to eat our lunches.

Jasper felt a bit bad about that later, that I hadn't eaten enough but I told him not to worry. It had been well worth it - even working on an empty stomach for the rest of the day but I didn't tell him that.

"Did … did Jasper say anything about … his brother? Edward?" Bella hesitantly asked.

"Yes, he did, actually," I said, patting her hand. "You don't have to worry. Apparently Edward is going through something. Jasper didn't want to say what it was, but it has nothing to do with you. Edward is visiting some family in Alaska, working on it, whatever it is. He was accidentally rude to you – it won't happen again, whenever he comes back."

"Oh," was all Bella said as we both exited the truck and walked inside.

"Jasper asked me out," I said as we came into the hallway and took of our coats.

Bella turned around, eyes wide. "Asked you out? Like … on a _date_?"

I giggled a little. "Yes, a date. What did you think I meant?"

Bella shook her head. "Oh, no, no! I just … Isn't that a little … soon? I mean yesterday you said you didn't like him."

I scowled at her. "I never said I didn't like him. I said that this wasn't Shakespeare – there's a difference."

Bella shrugged. "If you say so."

* * *

Bella, whom had taken over cooking duty, when she realized that Charlie could only cook fried eggs and bacon and that I hated everything that had to do with cooking.

She had been horrified when we told her we pretty much survived on take-out and declared that from that moment on she would make sure we got some homemade meals and get our vitamin levels up.

I failed to mention that if you ate the right kind of take-out you could still stay healthy, it seemed like such a big deal to her.

I made my homework at the kitchen table as Bella prepared a steak in marinade and stuck a couple of potatoes in foil to bake in the oven. I couldn't complain about _that_ kind of homemade meal.

When Charlie finally came home we all sat down to eat our dinner and after my first bite I happily cheered Bella on for her cooking talent. The food tasted great!

"Thank you, Ellie," she smiled, pink coating her cheeks.

"I'll do the dishes after dinner – after such a job you deserve the rest," I said, eating another piece.

Bella just nodded, she seemed miles away again. I wondered if it had to do with her mother. Bella had mentioned that her mom had sent her four emails just this afternoon, wondering if she was alright.

 _Dramatic, much?_

But apparently it wasn't her erratic mom that was on Bella's mind I soon found out:

"Um, dad," Bella started, clearly uncertain on how she should put whatever she wanted to say.

"Yes, Bells?" Charlie wondered.

"Do you know the Cullen family?"

I quickly looked down at my plate so she wouldn't see me rolling my eyes.

 _You're not much for just letting things go, are you Bella?_

"Dr. Cullen's family?" Charlie wondered. "Sure. Dr. Cullen is a great man."

"They … the kids … they are a bit … different," Bella stuttered out, her cheeks reddened with every word. She was casting a glance at me and I came to her rescue.

"What she means is that they don't seem to hang out with anyone else at school much," I finished.

Charlie suddenly looked a bit angry, which surprised us both.

"People in this town," he muttered. "Dr. Cullen is a brilliant surgeon who could probably work in any hospital in the world, make ten times the salary he gets here."

"We're lucky to have him —lucky that his wife wanted to live in a small town. He's an asset to the community, and all of those kids are well behaved and polite. I had my doubts, when they first moved in, with all those adopted teenagers. I thought we might have some problems with them. But they're all very mature — I haven't had one speck of trouble from any of them. That's more than I can say for the children of some folks who have lived in this town for generations. And they stick together the way a family should — camping trips every other weekend. Just because they're newcomers, people have to talk."

That must have been the longest speech I had ever heard from Charlie and Bella seemed stunned too.

"Speaking of which," I said, taking the opportunity, "Jasper Hale, one of Dr. Cullen's adopted children asked me out on Saturday. That's okay with you, right?"

Charlie turned to me, raising his eyebrows a little. "Hale? One of the twins? The blonde boy?"

"Yes," I confirmed, nodding as I did.

"Isn't he older than you?"

I shook my head. "Only by a year, Charlie. He's 18, I'm 17. Not a big age gap, really."

Charlie chuckled. "No, I suppose you're right about that. Alright, sure. But I would like to meet the young man before you go out."

"Yes, absolutely. I'll tell him to come in before we go."

"Good," Charlie said, smiling and taking a swing of his beer.

"Have you told Jasper about your condition?" Bella suddenly asked.

I turned to her, my eyes wide. "Yes, I have. Why do you ask?"

"Well, don't you need to be home at a certain time to take your night dosage?"

I didn't like her tone, or the expression in her eyes. I didn't understand where this was coming from.

Was this about Charlie again? Was she being petty because he showed interest in the boy I was going on a date with?

"It doesn't work that way, Bella," Charlie said, smiling at her. Maybe he thought she had asked out of worry, but I didn't.

"Ellie must take her medication morning and night, yes. But the only reason why she usually takes it the same time is because it's easier to remember that way. She won't get sick if she takes it a few hours later one night."

"Even so, yes, I've told Jasper about my condition. He didn't seem to think any different about me," I said, meeting her eyes with an even gaze of my own.

"That's good, sweetie," Charlie said, ruffling my red hair so it got all static. "That earns him a few points already."

I smiled happily at him yet I didn't miss how Bella's eyes narrowed before she quickly looked down at her plate again.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

 **Ellie**

The rest of the week was pretty uneventful. Edward Cullen was still absent and when Bella finally got over feeling insulted about that, she seemed to think it was rather peaceful having him gone – even though she kept looking for him every day.

There was still some tension between me and Bella after her little stunt during our family dinner. Jasper seemed to pick up on that even though I didn't say anything – which lead to him asking me if I wanted to ride with him to school instead.

First I protested a little, since he lived in the total opposite direction from me but he just gave me that charming smile of his which had turned into my kryptonite, and assured me that it was no trouble at all – it would give us some extra time to hang out before school separated us for the day.

Which I couldn't argue against - despite the short time we had known each other, Jasper's company had turned into something of an addiction for me.

I missed him during the lessons as we went to different classes. I missed him when we said goodbye after school and went home. I even missed him the moment we split up after lunch, going through the rest of the school day.

During lunch we sat together, just the two of us, since I kept my distance to Bella. I had asked Jasper a time or two if we should sit with his family and he had answered that we would, but for the moment he wanted me to himself – apparently they were already starting to hound him about our relationship, which made me blush since we hadn't exactly labeled what our _relationship_ was yet.

I was looking forward to our date that weekend – maybe we would decide what exactly we _were_ then. Jasper had refused to tell me what we were going to do when I asked him, just grinning coyly at me and said it was going to be a surprise.

It made me a bit nervous – not knowing what he had planned but thrilled and excited at the same time.

On Saturday morning I woke up all excited to begin with until I realized that Charlie had gone in to the station to work, leaving me alone in the house with Bella for several hours.

That would do wonders for my mood before my first date with Jasper. _Or not_!

I decided to just eat breakfast and then skip the house for a few hours, at least until Charlie came home again.

I hadn't been to the cemetery since Bella's first day here, so that I decided that would be as good place as any to spend some time.

I got up, jumped into a pair of jeans and a thick sweatshirt before I packed my music player and my worn copy of _Brothers Grimm's Fairy Tales._

My mom had loved to read me fairy tales and both of our favorites were the ones by the brothers Grimm. The original ones, where there still was some darkness left in the stories.

That was one of the few things I remembered my mother actually telling me, when we read those stories:

 _"_ _Nothing is all rainbows and unicorns, Ellie. Not even in the fairy tales."_

When I came out of my room I nearly ran into Bella who was walking pass my door with a hamper in her hands. She nodded silently at me as she walked toward the stairs, probably to get to the laundry room downstairs.

I decided to break the awkward silence when I spotted a few of Charlie's shirts in the hamper. We could at least discuss practical things, like civilized persons!

"You don't have to do Charlie's laundry, Bella," I told her as we both walked down the stairs. "Charlie usually does his during week in the evenings – that way he can hang the wet laundry in the morning before going to work and have a new set of clothes already dried and picked out the next day."

That was apparently the wrong thing to say. Bella turned her head and looked at me as if I just had ripped the wings of a butterfly.

"Charlie does his own laundry? What do you do then?"

I raised my eyebrows at her disapproving tone. "I do my laundry, of course. Usually during the weekends when he works or fishes with Billy. That's the way we've always done it – he does his laundry, I do mine."

Bella raised her chin a bit as she stared at me. "Oh. Well, I just thought … since he takes care of you and all … I know _I_ would have wanted to do something in return. If it were me, that is."

That was so unfair that I angrily opened my mouth to protest, but before I could she had turned her back toward me and continued her path to the laundry room.

"Anyway, I'm going to do Charlie's laundry from now on – I'm sure he will appreciate having free evenings after work."

I couldn't believe her! My first instinct was to march after her and slam her face into the ironing board, that's how angry I was.

But that would hardly solve anything, so instead I decided to skip breakfast and buy something on the way to the cemetery instead.

I rushed into the kitchen and swallowed down my pills with a mouthful of juice.

Then I ripped my coat from the hanger and went outside.

It was tempting to slam the door, but I wouldn't let Bella have the satisfaction, so instead I just got into my little Bug and drove off with squealing wheels.

* * *

Half an hour later I sat on the bench opposite my parent's gravestone, a hot cup of cappuccino and a muffin in my hands which I had bought on the way there.

I had also darted over to the animal section of the supermarket and bought a small bag of hay. It was intended for rodent pets, like hamsters, guinea pigs, and rabbits but I thought the doe and her little fawn would like it too – if they came this time, that is.

"Hey mom and dad. First week of the new school is finally over. It's actually going okay – better than I expected! No one has put me on the line, asking why I haven't been to school all these years or anything like that. That's probably because of Bella – since she's the totally new kid. Way more exciting apparently. Glad she could be useful for something."

I felt awful the minute those words left my mouth and if my mother were actually listening to me, I thought she wouldn't like it either, but I was still mad at Bella.

I apologized, just in case:

"Sorry, that was a bad thing to say and I know you'd probably want me to be a good person. It's just … I don't get what her problem is? I thought it could work between us, when she came here. But now she's just behaving like a child and a manipulative bitch at the same time. Yes, that was also a bad thing to say, but true nevertheless!"

I sighed deeply and decided not to talk more about Bella – it just darkened my mood.

"Hey, so guess what? I actually have a date tonight, with a guy I met at school. His name is Jasper Hale and he's … well, he's special. I really like him, even though we have just known each other a week. You know, I have never believed that you can … fall for someone so fast. A month? Sure. But a week? Never. But I think … I think I might actually …" I interrupted myself sighed loudly.

"Did you guys fall in love this fast, mama? Dad? I know how you met – Charlie has told me of course. But I realize now that I don't know if you felt something for each other already the first time you met? Or if it took time …"

My parents meeting each other had not exactly been one of those tales that make young girls swoon. Mom had gotten a parking ticket she thought she didn't deserve and decided to protest against it. It had gone to court and the lawyer she chose was my dad.

Petty thing to argue about one might think, but that was my mom, everyone had always told me. Her never ending belief that right should be right.

My dad had won the case for her and as a thank you she had offered to buy him dinner that night. Not a fancy, romantic dinner, mind you, but at a Chinese takeout joint.

But they started dating after that, so I supposed they must've had some kind of chemistry from the start.

But what Jasper and I had? That felt more than just chemistry. I just couldn't think of a fitting word for what it was.

"Wish me luck," I whispered to the memory of my dead parents, tears hot in my eyes as the birds tweeted around me.

A few hours later I had eaten my muffin, drunk all of my cappuccino and read through my copy of _Brothers Grimm's Fairy Tales._

The doe and her fawn hadn't come by but two little rabbits had. I guessed they were a mating pair or close to be one as February was close which was usually when breeding season for rabbits began.

I had opened the bag of hay and tossed it close to them and they gladly munched down the little feast I offered, which made me smile.

When the rabbits had finished eating and happily played around me, filled with new energy and joy I realized what time it was.

It was nearly 3 PM and Jasper would come and get me by 5:30. Until then I had to shower, wash and fix my hair, pick out an outfit … not to mention have time for, say, at least five panic attacks in front of the mirror!

With a horrified squeak I got up from the bench and rushed back to my car.

* * *

 **Jasper**

I turned into the Swan driveway just a few minutes to 5:30. Ellie had looked a bit surprised when I had told her what time I would pick her up – I guessed most first dates took place in the evening, but since we had some driving ahead to get to where I had planned we needed to get going a bit earlier.

I got out of the car and smoothed out any wrinkles there might be on my dark blue jeans. I wanted to make an effort but still keep it relatively casual for our first date, so beneath my usual grey jacket I had a black form fitting shirt which Rosalie had ordered me to _not_ button all the way up like I usually did.

I hoped it would please my mate – and her adoptive father. Ellie had mentioned that Chief Swan wanted to meet me before we took off and I truly wanted to make a good impression on him since it was obvious how much Ellie loved and respected him. Not to mention he was the one that had saved my mate's life back then, donating one of his kidneys.

Before I went up to the front door I placed my hands on the hood of my car for a few seconds, letting the heat from the engine warm my cold hands in case Chief Swan wanted to greet me by handshake.

Then I quickly moved over to the door and rang the doorbell. I could feel the emotions from the household, even with walls between.

Excitement with a hint of nervous – that would be Ellie. I was used to the feelings of her emotions by now. Curiosity mixed with protectiveness – I guessed that would be the Chief, who seemed to be the one coming to greet me by the sounds of it.

More curiosity mixed with … brewing anger? Jealousy? Isabella no doubt.

I could hear my mate's voice yelling downstairs that she would be ready in a moment and could someone please get the door?

The door swung open almost before she had finished that sentence and I nodded toward the Chief, who was inspecting me up and down.

Holding my breath I offered him my hand. "Good evening, Chief Swan. I'm Jasper Hale – I'm here to pick up Ellie."

Charlie shook my hand with what he probably thought was a firm handshake. "Evening, Jasper. Ellie just called – she will be down in a minute. Come on in, in the meantime."

"Thank you, sir." I said and stepped by him into the hallway. The house smelled of food, and I quickly sucked down as much of that air as possible. As repulsing as human food might be to me it was a good distraction from the scent of human blood.

Charlie closed the door after me and leaned toward the wall, looking at me. "Ellie told me that you wouldn't tell her where you were going tonight – that it was a surprise?"

He seemed simply curious but I could still feel that protective streak in his feelings and decided to put him at ease.

"Yes, I wanted to make it a surprise for her. But if you feel uncomfortable at that, sir, I could tell you where we're going – I would understand if you want to know where she is."

Chief Swan looked surprised at that and quickly shook his head. "No, no, son, that's fine. I know your father is a good man, so I trust you to keep her safe. And she has her cell phone."

I nearly grinned. Despite him saying he trusted me I got the hint. He would probably send a message to Ellie sometime during the night to see if she was alright. Clever trick, in case I turned out to be some psychopath.

"Is there any particular time you want her home?" I asked. I hoped not, because if so the second part of our date would be ruined but he shook his head.

"No, Ellie rarely goes out and she's a smart girl. Just don't let it be around 3 AM or something like that. She needs to take her evening dosage, you know."

I nodded. "I'm aware of that, sir, and I promise it's a matter of importance to me."

He smiled; a wide open smile this time and clapped me on the shoulder. "That's good, son. And please call me Charlie."

"Of course. Charlie," I nodded, smiling back.

"Dad," a girl's voice said from the doorway to the kitchen. "Dinner's almost ready."

We both turned toward the doorway. A tall, slim looking brunette stood there, inspecting me attentively. I recognized her – this was Isabella.

I nodded toward her. "You must be Isabella. Good evening."

She blushed before murmuring:

"Bella."

"I'll be there soon, Bells," Charlie said. "I want to see Ellie off first."

A wave of the same anger and jealousy hit me before it was quickly repressed. Bella.

I studied her out of the corner of my eye. I could not for the life of me (if that was the right expression) understand why nearly everyone was so much more interested in this girl than my mate.

There was nothing wrong with Bella's features, but she wasn't extraordinary beautiful – not to mention too thin. I knew that the times had changed and what was considered attractive when I was alive was not what women were striving for now, but it didn't matter to me.

I liked when girls and women actually looked like _women_. Which was another reason why I would still have chose Ellie, had we not been mates already.

She had such beautiful curves – not just breast that seemed to be everything human men wanted these days – big breasts on slim bodies – but Ellie had hips too.

She looked like a woman and I loved it. Bella on the other hand … if you saw her from behind and couldn't make out her facial features you might as well think she was a boy.

From what I'd seen, she didn't seem particularly interesting either. And from her feelings I'd learned she hid a childish, petty side as well. She knew about it too, otherwise she wouldn't try to hide it – she feared someone would notice and think differently of her.

Comparing that to my lovely little mate …? Even if Ellie wasn't my true mate I would still find her more intriguing. But humans never looked deep enough.

A door opened somewhere above us and just a moment later Ellie came down the stairs. She was a sight to behold!

She had a pair of light blue jeans on which hugged her figure perfectly. To them she had paired a long sleeved black top with glittering threads sewn in, making it shimmer as she moved. Her long red hair fell in soft waves around her face and I was pleased to see she had gone lightly on her makeup. Just a bit around her eyes and a lovely red shade of lipstick – no powder or concealer to hide those freckles I already adored.

"You look nice, kiddo," Charlie said, smiling approvingly at her.

"Yes, you look absolutely beautiful," I said, smiling as I heard her heartbeat speed up when she laid eyes on me. "Hello, Ellie. Are you ready?"

"Ready as ever!" she grinned and reached for her jacket. "Bye Charlie, bye Bella," she said nodding toward Bella that still stood in the kitchen doorway.

Bella didn't answer; instead she went back into the kitchen, slamming a bit with pot and pans. I took Ellie's hand and politely opened the door to her.

"Have fun kids," Charlie said, following us to the door. "Nice meeting you, Jasper."

"Likewise, sir," I said.

"Charlie, son," he corrected me before he shut the door. I felt relieved. He seemed to approve of Ellie being with me so far.

Suddenly there was a gasp beside me and a big rush of astonishment from Ellie. She had seen my car.

"Oh my … wow … this is … _wow_!"

"You like it?" I wondered, already knowing she did.

"Yes, it's beautiful. What kind of car is it? A Mustang?"

"Correct – a Mustang Cobra. How did you know?" I asked.

"Oh, I saw the emblem," she giggled and nodded toward the little steel horse decorating the grill of the car. Clever girl.

"But if you have _this_ , why … is the other car you've picked me up for school yours too?"

"The Audi? No, that's Esme's car. I usually ride with Edward but since he's away Emmett is the one that has been driving all of us to school. It's a bit of waste with fuel to take different cars when we're all going to the same place anyway."

"But then why …?" Ellie started and I already knew what she was going to ask. I hoped she wouldn't be offended with my answer.

"Well … I wanted to spend some time alone with you. I mean, we have barely known each other for a week …" I interrupted myself, feeling embarrassed and a bit of frightened that she would be mad.

Ellie just smiled though, and squeezed my hand. "You know, I'm actually happy you thought of it that way. I mean, I'm really curious about your family and I want to spend more time with them – and meet your parents! But I have really enjoyed our ride to school – just you and me."

I smiled back at her and opened the passenger door for her. She sat down and I went over to the driver's side.

When I had turned on the engine Ellie turned to me. "So, if this is the kind of cars you like to own … can you drive motorcycles too?"

I coughed – completely unnecessary since I didn't breathe, but she had caught me off guard. _How did she know?_

"As a matter of fact … yes, I do own a motorcycle too. What … how did you know that?"

She giggled again, a sound I had already learned to love. "Just a lucky guess. Fast sports car must mean you like to drive fast. Motorcycles are even faster than cars. I learned that from _American Chopper._ "

 _This girl was just full of surprises_.

"You like to drive fast?" I asked.

She shook her head. "No, not when I drive myself. I guess Charlie has rubbed off on me that way, and I can't really enjoy it when I drive myself either because I must concentrate on the rest of the traffic. But I was allowed to ride along with Charlie once when the department trained to cut off speeders – and I loved it."

I could feel how much she meant it by the excitement she was feeling at the memory. I guessed she would like my usual kind of traveling too then. Running. But it was not time to address that yet.

"I promise I will take you for a ride on the motorcycle on day, darling," I said, sending out just a tiny bit of my own excitement at that.

Her heartbeat sped up again and her cheeks got pink. "I would truly love that, Jasper," she said, her voice a bit lower and husky.

"Me too, darling."

It was silent between us for a little while until Ellie spoke up:

"So, are you finally going to tell me where we're going?"

I smiled and quickly took my hand from the steering wheel so I could brush my fingers over hers.

"Alright. We're going to Port Angeles Butterfly garden now – they have a special evening opening tonight. There's a nice little restaurant just beside it too – I thought we could have dinner there afterwards, if you want to?"

I swallowed hoping she would like it. I had felt so certain that this would be her kind of thing but now I suddenly felt scared she would find it stupid …

But her emotions soon told me otherwise, same as her wide smile. "Wow, really? That sounds fantastic! I've never seen a real butterfly garden!"

I let out a relieved sigh, more out of habit than anything else and smiled back at her. "I have something more planned after dinner, if you feel up to it. But for now, that's another surprise."

Ellie shook her head and giggled. "You know, usually I'm not so big on surprises … but I think I like it when you're then one planning them."

She winked at me and intertwined our fingers. Her warmth seemed to seep into my skin and spread inside me. I suddenly felt more alive than I had for more than a century.

* * *

 _ **A/N: Hello, everyone! I apologize a thousand times for my lack of updates but November was a busy month for me and then came the holidays. Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans, right? But I'm up and running (or writing) again now!**_

 _ **Hope you all enjoyed this chapter and please leave a comment and tell me what you think - it makes my day!**_


	7. Chapter 6

**Alice**

Alice quickly and with advanced elegance jumped the deer that passed below the tree she had hid in.

She ripped open the young animal's neck with more vigor and fury than she usually did but not even the soothing taste of blood running down her throat could raise her mood.

Jasper was out on a date. With _her_. The human. His mate.

Alice had tried to resist using her gift ever since she heard about the date. She didn't want to know, not more than she already did. That girl was Jasper's mate – what more was there? He belonged to someone else now, and that tiny spark of hope she had nursed through all these years had been in complete vain.

But this evening she couldn't help herself but peek a few hours into the future, after Jasper had left the Cullen residence, and she had come face to face with the vision of Jasper, the man she would do anything for, passionately kissing the human girl in his car in front of the Swan house.

The kiss had been eager, like they finally had given in to their longing for each other and feared someone would tear them apart. The vision told Alice the reason – they had taken the step of _going steady._ Becoming a couple.

She had ripped away from the vision with a shriek of fury and betrayal, even though she _knew_ she had no right of feeling that way.

Jasper had never promised her anything romantic – he had even made it clear to her that he would never see her as anything else than a dear friend.

Alice had felt something for Jasper from the moment she met him. She didn't remember much from her human life and had never met the vampire that sired her.

Jasper had been the first friendly face she had seen in her visions. She had shortly after that seen the Cullen family and knew that her and Jasper's destiny was entwined with theirs.

She understood that she needed to find Jasper and bring him to the Cullens. That was her part. There might be more for her, but that was what she saw most clearly.

It had been 30 years before she found him, but the moment he stepped in to that little café and bowed his head to her she had fallen for him. He was a true gentleman.

She had fallen even deeper when she jokingly chastised him for making her wait so long. The deep southern drawl in his voice as he bowed his head even lower, and said:

"Apologizes, ma'am."

Alice shook her head. Jasper had not known from the beginning how deeply she felt for him. The problems with his diet had been on his mind constantly then, so he had just perceived Alice's feelings as attraction toward him.

Then he had fought so hard to make his change from human drinker to vegetarian. During that time Jasper's gift had been chaotic. He couldn't control it as well as he usually did, so he and Alice had stayed in the forest, away from other people so he wouldn't affect them with his turbulent emotions or suffer from the feelings of others since he couldn't shut them out.

Alice had buried her feelings deeply then as she knew it would only add to his agitation. If he had felt anything from her back then he had probably written it off as concern and sympathy for him.

It was just before they found the Cullens Alice had confessed her feelings. It had also been that moment that she got a vision of Jasper's mate.

She hadn't expected that vision. It just came to her when Jasper broke her hope and then said something that made her heart ache for him.

 _"I'm sorry Alice. I love you, but … I'm not_ in love _with you. I don't want anything to get ruined between us."_

Her eyes had stung with tears she couldn't shed and her voice had trembled when she tried to reassure him.

Jasper had smiled one of his sad smiles and held her hand when he tried to comfort her.

 _"I'm not the right one for you, Alice. You deserve someone incredible. I truly think you have a mate out there and you_ will _find them."_

 _I don't want a mate,_ Alice had thought. _I want_ you. But she hadn't said it at loud. Instead she had listened as he looked away with a frown, venom brimming in his eyes as well. She didn't know if they were from her sadness or his own.

 _"They say there's a mate for all of us out there. All vampires. But I don't think so. Not for me at least. After what I did with Maria … the newborns … I don't deserve a mate. That kind of happiness … it's not for me."_

Alice had felt her throat constrict. She wanted to yell at him that he was amazing, that no matter what Maria had made him do he was a good person – he deserved love more than anyone!

Just as she thought so, the vision came. She had felt like she was in a trance and heard her own voice speaking but she didn't understand what she said.

Not until afterward when she came out of it and met Jasper's gaze. His eyes were wide as saucers and his mouth hung open.

He had been so cute in his surprise that she didn't realize what had happened until the surprise turned into joy.

She'd had a vision. Of a human girl coming into their lives. It would be over 50 years until then but she was coming. And she was Jasper's mate.

* * *

They had found the Cullen's shortly after that and Alice had bonded with Edward. He knew about her feelings towards Jasper because of his ability to read minds and he sympathized with her.

It was also him that had comforted him when Jasper broke her heart for a second time during the 1970s.

Alice had heard Jasper one night. It wasn't like she had eavesdropped but her room was next to his and being a vampire you couldn't help what you heard. She had understood what he was doing immediately.

So she had approached him the next morning and told him what she heard. He had been embarrassed at first but when she said she could help him if he wanted, that even if he couldn't love her like that it didn't mean they couldn't enjoy each other until his mate came.

Alice cringed when she thought back on it. She hadn't thought that through. The only thing she wanted back then was a chance to be near Jasper.

It didn't happen, of course. It was the one time where Jasper had actually become angry with her. He had told her that he saw her like a sister and that he the mere thought that he would do anything intimate with her then was outrageous.

He had also told her that even if his mate wasn't even born yet he knew about her and knew that she was coming. It would feel like a betrayal. He would never jeopardize his chance with his mate.

That was the last time Alice and Jasper had talked about her feelings toward him. Alice had told him whenever she had a vision about his mate, which for some reason happened a few times after she was born.

She hated it. She didn't want _that girl's_ future in her head but she couldn't stop it. And she didn't dare to keep it a secret either. Carlisle was a doctor and everything that had happened to Ellie – her illness and the death of her parents, he could easily hear about from the "doctor grapevine". If they found out that she had held out on information out of pettiness … Alice nearly trembled at the thought.

Suddenly she heard something further into the forest and quickly hid in a tree before she recognized the scent. A smile broke out and she jumped down to greet him.

Edward was back!

But to her surprise Edward didn't smile back at her when they met up. He seemed almost angry and deeply concerned.

"Jasper's out with the human girl? Bella's … adoptive sister?"

 _Wow,_ Alice thought as she gazed up on him. _This took a new turn quicker than I expected._


End file.
